Many trucks and off-road vehicles have drive trains that provide driving torque to all four wheels of the vehicle. This is generally accomplished by a transfer case used to selectively shift the drive train to one of four modes which are: two-wheel, high; four-wheel, high; neutral; and four-wheel, low. In present day transfer cases, the shifting of the drive train into one of these four modes is accomplished by the actuation of a single actuator extending outwardly from the transfer case housing and to which is attached one end of a selector rod, the other end being connected to an arm actuator which is a part of a vehicle shift lever assembly. The vehicle shift lever assembly includes a shift lever which extends upwardly into the driver's compartment, much like the conventional floor shift lever which extends from the vehicle's primary transmission.
Frequently the transfer case is not aligned directly under the place in the vehicle where the shift lever is to be located. Thus, the shift lever is off-set so as to be spaced laterally and upwardly from the transfer case. Further, the present vehicle shift lever assembly utilized in the shifting of the drive train of a transfer case includes a lockout/mounting plate secured to the transfer case and having a slot with a plurality of notches. A lockout pin extends into the slot and the position of the shift lever and actuator arm is set by locating the pin in a selected one of the notches. In order to move the pin from one notch to the next it is necessary that the pin be depressed downwardly out of one notch and moved in the slot to another notch. In one present day lever assembly this is accomplished by a mechanism whereby the shift lever is pivoted about a horizontal axis extending in a direction along the fore and aft axis of the transfer case which requires pivoting the shift lever in two different directions.
Because of the difficulty in the shifting of the drive train in the transfer case by pivoting the shift lever in two different directions, it has been proposed to shift the drive train of a transfer case by depressing the shift lever to move the lockout pin out of the notches of the mounting/lockout plate. However, this creates a substantial problem because of the aforementioned location of the shift lever being spaced laterally from the transfer case and thus the lockout/mounting plate mounted thereon.